Some times life feels like you're strapped to a wheel that's turning in directions that you have little or no control over. All you can do is hang on for dear life and try to make sure that the wheel carries you along, rather than spinning you off or, even worse, runs you right over as it goes down the ro

For over a year. that's been me. I was between jobs, and the search for a new position was extraordinarily frustrating, taking regular smacks at my self-esteem and confidence. I tried hard not to let it affect how I acted in daily life, but it did affect the enthusiasm with which I tackled things like my beading, blogging, and general online friendship maintenance.

"You got no money, you got no home,

Spinning wheel, all alone,

Talking 'bout your troubles and you never learn,

Ride a painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel turn"

But I recently got a job. A dream job. I am thrilled! The only hitch is that it will require my husband and me to live a commuter marriage for a couple of years until he retires. But the new job is in Chicago, which is one of those places we always thought would be a fabulous place to retire to. So I finally feel like I've gotten a little more control over the wheel of life, but in the meantime, I've had to find an apartment, figure out what needs to move up with me, and do all the things that come with relocating.

In fact, as you read this, I will be in my new apartment, hopefully directing the movers on where to put all the boxes of beads I packed!

"Did you find the directing sign

On the straight and narrow highway

Would you mind a reflecting sign

Just let it shine within your mind

And show you all the colors that are real"

When Janet invited me to be one of a group of people to create something with some little wooden wagon wheels she had found, I was happy to have the challenge. My first thought was that it was perfect for a color wheel. And that's about as far as it went for a couple of months. But it's amazing how motivating it can be to have to pack all of your beads up for moving -- I sat right down and figured out how to turn my wagon wheel into a color wheel, first painting the wheel black and then using flat circular peyote stitch that I anchored to the spokes with whipstitch now and then.

It's not a masterpiece, by any means, but it is a talisman for me -- just like there are infinite shades of colors, there are infinite possibilities in life. Sometimes it just takes the wheel a little longer than you would like to slow down enough, in the words of Blood Sweat and Tears, to show you "all the colors that are real."

"Someone's waiting just for you.

Spinnin' wheel, spinning true,

Drop all your troubles by the riverside,

Catch a painted pony on the spinning wheel ride"

So, a little more melodramatic than most of my posts, but I'm hoping that this wheel helps me turn the corner (see what I did there?) into being more active on my blog, more regular in reading your posts, and altogether more like myself! (Oh, and credit to Blood Sweat and Tears, whose song I've shamelessly used here.)